1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to methods and systems in the field of validating addresses associated with delivery items. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods and systems for validating new addresses that have been added after monthly products containing all current addresses have been released to mailers.
2. Background Information
The UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE (USPS), an independent establishment of the United States government, is a delivery service provider that handles billions of delivery items on a weekly basis. The USPS delivers items to recipients based upon an address. The address may contain identifying information such as a name, a street, a city, a state, and a postal code, such as a five-digit ZIP Code®), representing a geographic area. The postal code may represent a smaller geographic area (or segment), such as the area represented by a nine-digit ZIP+4® code. For example, a nine-digit ZIP+4 Code may identify a geographic segment having a plurality of delivery points, such as residential block, a firm, or a floor of a high rise building. A delivery point can be defined as the mailing address of a Postal Patron where delivery personnel deliver mail, and may include a residential mailbox located on a curb, a door slot, a box on a house, a centralized group of mail boxes, or the location of a receptionist or mailroom.
The ZIP+4 Code consists of the well-known five-digit ZIP Code, plus an additional four-digit code. The additional digits of the ZIP+4 Code allow more efficient sorting and delivery of items through the delivery process. When four or more business entities have a common primary address, such as an office building, and the addresses are differentiated by secondary address information, such as suite numbers, the building is assigned one or more distinct ZIP+4 Codes. In a similar fashion, when mail is delivered into multiple clusters of mailboxes, a ZIP+4 Code is assigned to each cluster. Yet in a further similar fashion, when mail is delivered to multiple floors within a high-rise building, each floor may be assigned a unique ZIP+4 Code.
Delivery service providers such as the USPS charge shipping fees, such as postage, to senders in order to cover the cost for handling and shipping the delivery item. Under certain circumstances, a delivery service provider may discount the postage for senders that reduce the provider's handling and shipping costs for large quantities of mail.
There are several methods available that allow senders, such as mailers, to better prepare the a delivery item, such as mail, in order to receive a discount on the postage, that is, the shipping fee. One such method is to deliver mail, pre-coded with a bar code, to a USPS mail processing facility. To improve the efficiency of mail delivery before mail is delivered, the USPS, through the use of automated mail processing equipment, applies an eleven-digit delivery point bar code to each mail piece to identify each address. Delivery point bar codes are bar codes of eleven digits, where five digits are allocated to the ZIP Code, 4 digits are allocated to the ZIP+4 Code, and the last two digits are allocated to a unique delivery point. Thus, the ZIP Code may specify a specific area of a town, a ZIP+4 Code may represent a particular block on a street, and a delivery point code may represent a specific house on the block. The USPS then uses that bar code to sort the mail in a delivery sequence order. A postal carrier needs little or no time to prepare the sorted mail for delivery since it has already been sorted in the delivery sequence order.
In order to bar-code mail themselves, mailers can use address validation software to “validate” an address and bar-code each piece of mail. As used herein, the term “validating” an address consists of confirming that an address is deliverable by USPS. If the mailer sends a piece of mail to that address, the item will get delivered and not returned or destroyed, dependent upon addressee name and any endorsements or special services the mailer may apply request. Address validation software may use one or more validation products issued each month by the USPS in order to confirm the existence of newly created addresses in the USPS master addressing database, the Address Management System (AMS).
The USPS adds new delivery addresses on a daily basis totaling approximately two million new delivery addresses each year. However, the validation products, are issued only on a monthly basis. Therefore, a new address can be added to the AMS database in the middle of the month, and thus not be included in the current monthly validation product. The mailer would have to wait until the next monthly validation product is mailed before being able to validate a new address. This time lag can delay validation of a new address for several weeks. The inability to validate an address can cause mail to be inappropriately bar-coded and standardized, thus incurring additional handling by the USPS and reducing the value of that address to the mailer. It can also prevent delivery customers from receiving services because their address cannot be confirmed by a mailer or other business entity.
Therefore, there is a need for systems and methods that solve the problem of the time lag between the creation of a new address in the USPS master addressing database and the ability of the mailing community to validate the new address using USPS validation products.